The Short Story

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A genealogy is a family tree, tracing family relationships back to grandparents, great-grandparents or further. Often people also record family stories, so they can write a full family history. Sometimes family reunions are the spur to research genealogy.

Māori whakapapa also tell the story of people’s family trees, but include relationships to all living things.

Genealogy

There has been a growing interest in genealogy, often amongst older people. In 1967 the New Zealand Society of Genealogists was formed. By 2009 it had over 9,000 members.

Research

Genealogists record the knowledge and memories of older family members, collect birth, marriage and death certificates, and use records in libraries and archives such as street directories and electoral rolls to identify and trace family members.

The internet made research much easier. Data such as shipping records, historical newspapers, the UK census and birth, marriage and death certificates could be searched online.

Genealogists were sometimes called ‘granny hunters’, but as historians have become interested in social history genealogy has gained more respect.

Family tree

People begin their research by asking older family members about the family’s history. Letters, diaries and official documents are sources of information.

There are now national and international online communities sharing information about overlapping branches of their members’ families.

Issues

Sometimes families kept embarrassing incidents secret. Attitudes to events such as abortion or divorce have changed, but some people question whether secrets should be uncovered, even if the people concerned are no longer alive.

Much family memorabilia – photographs, emails and family trees – is now stored on computer hard drives or online. People worry that this data is too easily lost, which will make it difficult for people in the future to research their ancestors.